Three school buses owned by Paeroa Private Hire have been destroyed. Video / Deane Olsen
The owner of a Waikato bus company has been left in tears after three vehicles that transport more than 100 children to school and kindergarten were destroyed by youths.
Video footage, shared by Paeroa Private Hire's Deane Olsen, shows the extent of the damage caused to three buses parked onFrancis St in Paeroa yesterday.
Windows were smashed with what appeared to be metal pipes and rocks. Shards of glass and rocks littered bus seats and broken glass bottles left strewn on the ground. A metal pipe was left wedged in the middle of one windscreen.
What appeared to be blue grease was smeared over the body of the buses and on rear-view mirrors, and eggs were also thrown at the vehicles.
The words "F*** me daddy" were seen graffitied on the back of one bus.
"The little bus that's down there, that's the kindy bus, that's the bus I got ... about nine years ago. I always kept it and now it's our little dedicated kindy bus," Olsen told the Herald.
"I was looking at it, and it's got glass all through it, and I was just thinking, I don't think I'll ever be able to put them in it again," she said through tears.
A metal pipe was left wedged in the windscreen of one bus. Photo / Deane Olsen
Before the Delta community outbreak, her team of drivers were transporting 138 children to schools including Hauraki Plains College, Netherton School and Hikutaia School. Central Kids Kindergarten in Paeroa were using her services once a week.
Olsen said she does it for the community and does not make a profit, just enough to pay her drivers and cover costs.
"Those little kindy kids when you see their faces, when the bus pulls in or when it goes through town, they've got bid smiles," she said.
Police said they attended a report of wilful damage on Frances St at around 5.30pm last night.
"We attended and spoke to the youth involved and dropped them home," police told the Herald.
Olsen said she's worried about the children involved.
"What's happened to those kids to be like that?
"I know some of them personally and they're good families."
While Olsen is working through receiving insurance for the damage, she is hoping another rental company, Cross Country Rentals, will lend her vehicles in time for the school run tomorrow morning.
A fourth bus owned by the company was "thankfully" parked at a driver's house and has not been damaged, she said, and can be used tomorrow.
Shards of glass and rocks were seen littering bus seats. Photo / Deane Olsen
A Givealittle page has also been set up by her daughter-in-law to help cover the costs of repairing the bus windows and panels. Almost $4000 has been raised so far.
Olsen said she has been overwhelmed by support she has received from locals after posting videos of the damage on social media.
"I didn't realise that anybody noticed anything. I'm actually incredibly shy.
"I communicate with people on the buses one at a time. To me it's important whenever one of the students get on the bus, [we say] 'Good morning', [to] every single one of them."
